Video by Sean McCalley/CNS-TV
Washington – Over 12,000 Washington, D.C.-area commuters opted to leave their cars at home and find different ways to get to work on Thursday, September 22.
They were participating in World Carfree Day, a global event held every September 22nd that encourages people to abandon their cars and use environmentally friendly transportation instead. This year the district joined over 1,500 other cities in 40 different countries around the world.
This year 12,285 D.C. commuters signed a pledge to leave their cars at home, about 5,000 more than last year.
This is the eleventh year of the annual event, according to the World Carfree Network
. WCN is the global organizing group that promotes green transportation infrastructure growth.
In a related event, the bike rental organization Capital Bikeshare chose Carfree Day to celebrate its first anniversary with a large party at the Yards Park by Nationals Stadium.
“We purposely chose today to celebrate our anniversary because it is Carfree Day,” said Katie Sihler, a goDCgo
project manager that is involved with Capital Bikeshare operations in Virignia.
“We wanted to align ourselves with that because it’s very important to us and we follow its message very closely.”
Capital Bikeshare had an active role in promoting World Carfree Day and its corresponding party by notifying all its members. That evening thousands of people walked, Metroed and biked to Yards Park to celebrate green living with live music, food, and bicycle challenge courses.
